By Lalit K JhaWashington, Oct 13 (PTI) The US today slapped sanctionson Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its allegedsupport to various terrorist organisations.
The announcement by the Department of Treasury came afterPresident Donald Trump started a campaign to "fix" the 2015Iran nuclear deal, telling Congress the agreement is no longerin the US' interest.
"The IRGC has played a central role to Iran becomingthe world’s foremost state sponsor of terror. Iran’s pursuitof power comes at the cost of regional stability, and Treasurywill continue using its authorities to disrupt the IRGC'sdestructive activities,” said Treasury Secretary Steven TMnuchin.
"We are designating the IRGC for providing supportto the IRGC-QF, the key Iranian entity enabling SyrianPresident Bashar al-Assad’s relentless campaign of brutalviolence against his own people, as well as the lethalactivities of Hizballah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups,”he said.
“We urge the private sector to recognise that theIRGC permeates much of the Iranian economy, and those whotransact with IRGC-controlled companies do so at great risk,”Mnuchin said.
According to the Treasury, IRGC has providedmaterial support to the IRGC-QF, including by providingtraining, personnel, and military equipment.
The IRGC has trained IRGC-QF personnel in Iran prior totheir deployments to Syria, and has deployed at least hundredsof personnel from its conventional ground forces to Syria tosupport IRGC-QF operations.
Its personnel in Syria have provided militaryassistance to the IRGC-QF, and have been assigned to IRGC-QFunits on the battlefield, where they provide critical combatsupport, including serving as snipers and machine gunners. PTILKJ PMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.